Indian Army successfully test fires Agni-II IRBM for the third time।
Agni-II is nuclear capable।
The firing on February 20 in full operational configuration।
DAC clears proposals worth Rs 15,935 Cr (approx $2.2b) ।
The approval covers purchae of Rifles, Carbines and Light Machine Guns for the Army, Navy and Air Force ।
New weapons are required by the Indian Army’s for effective engagement of Pakistani infiltrations
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Leading Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir passes away
।
Globally respected for her liberal views, she was a strong pro-democracy activist ।
SpaceX Launches the World’s Most Powerful Rocket, and aboard it, Mr Musk’s electric red sports Car ।
“It’s kind of silly and fun, but silly and fun things are important,” he said Feb 6।
Mr Elon Musk owns both SpaceX, the world’s biggest space company, as well as Tesla cars।
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has ferried payload to Space Station but this time, rocket is turbocharged।
For the first time, NASA was not involved in launching such a heavy rocket।
Singapore Airshow Opens Feb 6 ।
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Airbus, Sikorsky, and the global biggies are taking part ।
Honeywell Provides Fuel Made From Mustard Seeds For Trans-Pacific Flight ।
Russia views India as a Privileged Partner, says Rostec CEO Chemezov
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US Carrier Carl Vinson to make first ever visit to Vietnam in March ।
Carl Vinson woll dock at Da Nang, apparently boosting bilateral military cooperation ।
Happy Republic Day to All Indians ।
Emirates signs agreement for up to 36 additional A380s ।
India successfully test fires 5000-Km A380s ICBM।
Defexpo to be held April 11-15 in Tamil Nadu, India’s southern state।
HAL receives RfP for 83 LCA Tejas from IAF।
The new LCAs will have AESA combat Radar।
IAF had announced the decision for new LCAs sometime back।
INS Kalvari commissioned into Indian Navy December 14।
Prime Minister Modi ceremonially inducted the Scorpene class boat in Mumbai।
Built by state-run MDL with French collaboration, Kalvari is the first submarine inducted after 2000।
Modi described the Kalvari as a fine example of Make in India।
Five more Kalvari Class submarines are to be commissioned over the next couple of years।

S-400 Deliveries to India Could Begin in 2019

By Vinay Shukla

Published: June 2017

Moscow. Russia could commence the deliveries of S-400 Triumf (read Triumph) air defence missile systems (ADMS) to India as early as in 2019 as it hopes that a final contract will be signed by the end of this year.

“We expect that the contract will be signed by the end of this year,” Maria Vorobyova, spokesperson of Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) was quoted as saying by Ínterfax Military Newswire-AVN and noting that the deliveries normally commence within two years after the signing of the contract.

Earlier speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin confirmed that pre-contract work is underway.

“In principle the preparations for signing the contract are underway and I hope the work will be completed soon,” he told AVN, adding that the two sides are negotiating the terms and formats of delivery, like the number of regiments, how many batteries would be in a regiment of the S-400 and other technical aspects of the deal.

The S400 is an anti-aircraft and anti-missile missile. Russia has already supplied this to China but the variant being to India should be later and possibly slightly better variant. Russia itself is deploying S 500, and developing S 600 in its missile evolution programme. The last two variants would be capable of destroying their targets in the outer space.

The Indo-Russian inter-governmental agreement on the acquisition of long range S-400 ADMS (NATO reporting name – SA-21 Growler) was signed in October 2015 at the Goa bilateral summit and is expected to cost USD 5 billion. At Russian INNOPROM Expo at Yekaterinburg last year, the Indian pavilion had projected the purchase of 12 complexes under ‘Make in India’ programme.

The S 400 is stated to be a multi-layer long-range air defence system capable of simultaneously destroying several airborne targets like ballistic missile warheads, stealth aircraft, drones and cruise missiles, depending on its configuration. It should be a game-changer for India when deployed in the forward areas on the western borders to counter Pakistani threats.

Designed and produced by Russia’s Almaz-Antey Concern, the S-400 system can be customised for full integration in the integrated aerospace defence of a customer country.

Military experts here told India Strategic on conditions of anonymity that Russia is expected to complete the deliveries of six S-400 systems to China by 2020-21 under a USD 3 billion deal signed in 2015.

However, Beijing will not get very long-range 40N6 SAMs with the range of 400 kilometres as China is not a member of MTCR (missile technology control regime) unlike India, so they will get anti-aircraft missiles with the range of 250 kilometres as MTCR prohibits export of missiles with a range above 300 kilometres to non-members.

Although India will be paying more for its five S-400 systems, the deal would include the longest-range 40N6 SAMs and transfer of technology for their manufacture under “Make in India” programme, experts believe.